Road Atlanta: Sascha Maassen race report

Sascha Maassen increased his lead in the American Le Mans Series LMP2
driver championship after overcoming a seven-lap deficit to win the class
in the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on
Sept. 30.
Maassen, of Raeren,...

Sascha Maassen increased his lead in the American Le Mans Series LMP2
driver championship after overcoming a seven-lap deficit to win the class
in the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on
Sept. 30.

Maassen, of Raeren, Belgium, combined with Timo Bernhard of Dittweiler,
Germany, and Emmanuel Collard of London, England, for the victory in the
No. 6 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder. It was Maassen's 26th ALMS class
win and his third of the season. His usual co-driver, Lucas Luhr of
Monaco, finished second in class in the No. 7 Spyder, driving with Romain
Dumas of Basel, Switzerland, and Mike Rockenfeller of Monaco.

Bernhard qualified the No. 6 Spyder second on the LMP2 grid with a lap of
one minute 11.631 seconds on the 2.54-mile road course. He drove the
first race stint and held second place until he encountered a
throttle-linkage problem after 61 minutes of the nine-hour 17-minute
race. A long pitstop for repairs left him at the back of the field, seven
laps behind the class leader.

Maassen drove the next double stint, starting at 1h53, followed by
Collard and Bernhard. The trio steadily worked through the field and
Maassen took the class lead at 7h8. Collard drove the final stint, taking
the checkered flag one lap ahead of his teammates in the No. 7 Spyder.

The result secured the 2006 ALMS LMP2 manufacturer championship for
Porsche and the team championship for Penske Racing, with one race
remaining this season. Maassen and Luhr hope to tie in points after the
final race -- at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif., on Oct. 21
-- to share the LMP2 driver championship.

"I don't know if we all believed we could win after we had the problems
so early, but we came back, we fought hard and tried our best. I have to
thank my teammates and the team -- they did a great, great job,"
Maassen said. "In a nine-hour race, to have a problem after one hour is
okay, but it was the only major problem we had. I think we deserved this
victory and I'm very happy for the championship, as well. I hope we can
finalize it at Laguna Seca so Lucas and I will be champions together."